Tuesday, May 7, 2013

*ON “ON INDONESIAS “DEMOCRACY”*

*NB: *

*After seeing the documentary film “THE ACT OF KILLING” (producer:
Joshua Oppenheimer) in Stockholm, April 1, 2013, the Indonesian
Ambassador gave an intrerview:*

*He claimed that what we saw in the film (the killing of thousands of
innocent people), was Indonesia during the “turbulent period” of 1965
(the anti-Left campaign of Gen. Suharto and the successive overthrow of
President Sukarno). Now, he said, Indonesia has changed in a democratic
country. Indonesia, he said, is now even praised by the world as an
example of democracy in practice in that part of the world.*

*Let us follow below what one of the Indonesian newspaper, The Jakarta
Post, has to say. * * **

*A lawless nation*

The Jakarta Post | Editorial | Wed, April 03 2013,

Acts of violence are creating an image for the nation that is quite
different from that presented in hospitality advertisements to woo
foreign tourists. The recent arson attack on the mayor’s office Palopo,
South Sulawesi, and raids on several other buildings, including the
editorial offices of the Palopo Pos daily, on Sunday were only the
latest in a string of attacks that nobody can predict will end.
Over the last few months, brutality has trumped the better angels of our
nature across the archipelago, which stretches from Aceh at its
westernmost tip to Papua in the east.
People were understandably shocked, given that the violence in Palopo
came just after reports of soldiers who burned down a police station in
Ogan Komering Ulu, South Sumatra; a mob that killed a police station
commander in Simalungun, North Sumatra; the murder of a police officer
in Aceh and the murder of suspects inside their cell in a prison in
Yogyakarta.

The incident in Palopo was perhaps characteristic of the dynamic nature
of the nation’s democracy, particularly due to the high expectations of
voters for their candidates to win in free elections. The central
government in Jakarta is mulling having regents and mayors elected by
regional legislative councils, as was done during the New Order, to
prevent unnecessary electoral conflict, damage and fatalities.
In the interim, the government has been looking for scapegoats and
scholars have been digging deep to find the root causes of the violence.
While many explanations have been offered as to what triggered the
incidents, we should take our cue from reports that said that angry
people took matters into their own hands due to their distrust of the
way the law has been implemented in the nation.

The public’s disgust with law enforcement has not suddenly emerged, but
has been built up over time as some people have enjoyed impunity,
blatantly contradicting the basic principle of equality before the law.

How can the government encourage people to abide by the law if the young
son of a top minister was freed after he was convicted of killing two
people in an traffic accident while other less-well-connected defendants
were thrown into prison. The public has also been left flabbergasted
after prominent tycoons fled the nation just before bans on their
overseas travel were imposed.

The notion of equality before the law has quite obviously been tossed
out the window when some politicians remain at large after they were
declared corruption suspects while those from other parties were
immediately detained. Law enforcers may speak at length about their
discretion. For the man or woman on the street, however, seeing is
believing.

What can we as citizens say about a system that has sentenced people to
six months’ imprisonment for murder done in the name of religion?
There are always loopholes, faulty prosecutions and bad verdicts in any
nation. However, there are far too many problems in Indonesia. There are
the untouchables among us whom law enforcers cannot bring to justice
because of their access to power.

Strict and fair law enforcement is all that the nation needs to maintain
popular confidence in the legal system and to discourage people from
taking the law into their hands. As long as the elite think they have
the right to bend the law, the masses will follow suit.
Distrust in the law is a clear signal of a failed state. Perhaps we are
headed that way, after all. * * *

When law is neglected
The Jakarta Post | Editorial | Tue, March 26 2013,

The early Saturday morning attack at the Cebongan Penitentiary in
Sleman, Yogyakarta, and the subsequent execution of four murder suspects
inside the prison cell shocked and infuriated all Indonesians. The
incident was a mere display of how the law in this republic has yet
again, been neglected.

It is too premature to conclude what party or institution is to be held
responsible for the incident, with the police currently investigating
the matter. If we talk about the police’s standard investigation
procedures, they can start from analysing the motives.

The four killed in the shooting spree were suspects in the murder of
army officer First Sgt. Heru Santoso, media reports say that he was a
member of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) Group II in Kartosuro,
Central Java; while the commander of the Diponegoro Regional Military
Command, which oversees Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces, said
Santoso was a member of the Military Command. It is therefore
reasonable, based on the police’s investigation technique textbook, that
the perpetrators were peers of Santoso who sought revenge for his death.

The police can also analyze the way the perpetrators attacked and killed
the four prisoners. Many believe the execution was conducted by a group
of highly skilled persons. There are only a few military and police
units — or perhaps a very rare civilian terrorist group — with the
capacity to carry out such an operation.Another element of evidence,
although its validity is slim, is the claim by one of the perpetrators
(when they sought entry to the outer prison compound) that they were
from the police.

Lastly, the police can also start their investigation by analyzing the
31 bullets found in the bodies of the four murdered suspects and the
weapon used to fire the bullets (only one person took the shots). From
the bullets and the weapon used, it can be concluded what party or
institution was responsible for the acts.

Apart from investigating the perpetrators’ motives, the police’s
investigation must also verify why the Yogyakarta Police had twice moved
the four murder suspects and eventually decided to “temporarily keep”
them at the Cebongan Penitentiary. Such verification is necessary in
order to find out whether the Yogyakarta Police had been aware or
received information of the possible raid and subsequent killing of the
suspects.

All questions surrounding the motives and facts of the prison attack and
the killing of the suspects, if they can be addressed by the police’s
investigation, will be beneficial in determining what measures to take
to tackle its root cause. If the attack and killings on Saturday were
merely a revenge act, necessary administrative and legal sanctions must
be imposed on the perpetrators — and possibly on their superior(s) if
the latter knew of the incident.

A different treatment and solution is needed if the incident, which was
preceded by the murder of Sgt. Santoso, was triggered by “security
protection” rivalry, which many in the security circle say remains
rampant to date. Apart from administrative and legal sanctions against
all the perpetrators involved, a review into the
civilian-police-military relations is necessary, with clearer laws and
regulations needed, particularly on the role and function of the police
and the military in maintaining security and order in the country.

Last but not least, successful law enforcement will only be attainable
if all crimes or violations against civilian laws — conducted by police
and military officers — are tried at a civilian court, separate from the
police or military tribunals that are supposed to try professional- or
duty-related violations only.All and all, the key is true and fair law
enforcement. * * *

The (un)Democratic Party

The Jakarta Post | Editorial | Mon, April 01 2013,

When you are unable to find anybody you can trust, someone who will
always remain loyal to you in leading an institution or an organization,
you will turn to those closest to you within your family — or even
resort to yourself. Such a decision is only human, but its practice is
essentially an indication of dictatorship.

And that is exactly what happened at the extraordinary congress of the
Democratic Party (PD) on Saturday. Despite all the claims that the
process leading up to the “unanimous nomination” of Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono as the “single candidate” for the party’s chairmanship was
democratic, the fact that Yudhoyono also holds two other key party
positions that are even more powerful than the post of party chairman is
more than enough to say that he is in full control of the Democratic Party.
Prior to being elected party chairman on Saturday, Yudhoyono has been
the chairman of the party’s board of patrons and the chairman of the
party’s supreme assembly ever since the party was established on Sept.
9, 2001.

In addition to Yudhoyono’s leadership in the three crucial party posts,
his total control of the party’s affairs is supplemented by his son,
Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, who is the party’s secretary-general, the key
person in the administrative affairs of the party.

As chairman of the board of patrons, Yudhoyono is indeed a powerful
figure in the party as, according to the party’s statutes, every
decision or policy made by the party’s board of executives can only be
made with his approval as board chairman.

As chairman of the party’s supreme assembly, Yudhoyono has the final say
on any party members put forth as candidates in gubernatorial-deputy
gubernatorial, regental-deputy regental and mayoral-deputy mayoral
elections nationwide.
And as party chairman, Yudhoyono will be the most influential Democratic
Party figure in the drafting of the party’s list of candidates for next
year’s legislative election and presidential election. According to a
regulation of the General Elections Commission (KPU), which organizes
the five-yearly legislative elections and subsequent presidential
election, the list of legislative candidates and the nomination of
presidential-vice presidential candidates are only valid when approved
and signed by a party chairman.

Apart from his multiple roles in the Democratic Party, a subject of
concern about Yudhoyono’s additional role as the party’s chairman is
whether he can fully dedicate himself in his capacity as the country’s
top executive. Not only is it ethically unacceptable for him to lead a
political party and at the same time the country, a very rare
phenomenon in a democratic country, there is a big question mark
regarding his readiness to focus on his main duties as the president.
Admittedly Yudhoyono did say on Saturday that he would delegate the
daily affairs of each of his three posts in the party — board of patrons
chairman, supreme assembly chairman and party chairman — to a caretaker
that he would later appoint. However, as his responsibilities in the
three party posts will be retained, the final decisions regarding
programs and policies of the three areas within his leadership will
still need his approval.

All this at a time when the deadline to announce legislative candidates
is fast approaching (within the next two weeks) and as the next stages
of next year’s general election will obviously occupy most of his
working time as president. Yudhoyono must remember that he is the
president of the Republic of Indonesia, which he should care about more
than a political party — which is, after all, only a political vehicle
for him to secure the No. 1 post in the country. * * *

The humiliating truth

The Jakarta Post | Editorial | Fri, April 05 2013,

Six days after Army chief of staff Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo said that
“elements within the Army” might have been involved in the murder of
four prisoners in Cebongan Prison in Yogyakarta, an Army investigation
team has confirmed that 11 Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) commandos
were behind the brazen executions.

Such a forthright revelation is extraordinary, given that the
investigators come from within the Indonesian Military (TNI), an
institution committed to rehabilitating itself — however haltingly —
after decades of complicity with Soeharto’s repressive and authoritarian
New Order.

The announcement has revealed a truth that has undermined the TNI’s
efforts to reform: the brutal prison raid and executions have damaged
the image of the TNI as the protector of the nation. It is a damning
blow for Kopassus in particular, as the Special Forces have not
completely overcome their alleged involvement in the abduction of
student and anti-government activists in the waning days of Soeharto’s rule.

The Army’s speedy investigation, which identified the lone executioner
of the four suspects as U, deserves praise. It has removed doubts held
by members of the general public of the Army’s seriousness, especially
since previous incidents have been settled secretly and conspiratorially
between “gentlemen”, instead of openly and transparently in court.

However, despite the announcement, the public is waiting to see what
steps the Army will take to ensure that the Kopassus are brought to
justice in a military court.

A failure to impose strong punishment against those found guilty of
raiding the prison and murdering the suspects will only diminish the
public’s trust of the TNI in general, and of the Army and Kopassus in
particular.

A failure to levy heavy sentences for the prison executions will
increase demands for civilian courts to prosecute military personnel.
The Cebongan incident will be a test for the TNI, if it wants to
preserve its right to implement military justice for its members. * * *

Week review: Global and local dramas

The Jakarta Post | Editorial | Sun, March 31 2013,

Indonesia has hosted a set of global and local dramas at home in the
past week. Both have brought a mixture of pride and shame to us
collectively as Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest nation by
population and its third-largest democracy.

Good news came from Bali, as the fourth High Level Panel Meeting on
Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) concluded on Wednesday
with an “ambitious yet achievable” framework ready to be submitted to
the UN secretary-general in May.
The co-chairs of the meeting — President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and UK Prime Minister David
Cameron — stated that the panel agreed to renew a global partnership
that would enable “a transformative, people-centered and
planet-sensitive development agenda” to be realized through the equal
partnership of all stakeholders. They said that the panel also agreed
that financing for the development agenda would be clearly specified.

The agenda would require honoring international, regional and national
financing commitments as well as finding innovative sources of finance,
such as private investment, public-private partnerships and market
mechanisms, they added.
Yudhoyono said that the panel discussed a framework that developed out
of the international Rio+20 conference on the environment, where
governments agreed to set up an open working group, comprised of 30
government representatives from every regions, to develop a stakeholder
engagement plan to build a framework for the so-called Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).

The past week also saw a positive development in the country’s financial
sector. A relatively smooth meeting of the House of Representatives’
Commission XI overseeing the economy and finance eventually endorsed on
Tuesday Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo’s nomination by Yudhoyono as
the new governor of Bank Indonesia (BI).
Agus, who was selected by a vote following “fit-and-proper” tests, will
replace Darmin Nasution, who will soon end his tenure at the central
bank. This was the second time that Agus was nominated by Yudhoyono to
lead BI. While he failed to pass muster at the House in 2008, his
selection on Tuesday proceeded smoothly.

The appointment received a warm welcome from the markets on Wednesday,
with the main price index on the local stock exchange rising to a record
high. The Jakarta Composite Index (IHSG) reached a record 4,928.10 on
Wednesday, while the rupiah rose 0.1 percent to 9,722 per US dollar.
Economists said the positive trend market indicated a high level of
confidence in Agus’ capability as the new central bank governor for
Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

However, this leaves a huge question mark as to who will be the next
finance minister, especially given that Agus won international acclaim
for his success in spearheading reform at the once corruption-riddled
Finance Ministry. The possible candidates to replace Agus floating
around include Deputy Finance Minister Mahendra Siregar, tax chief Fuad
Rahmany and Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Chatib
Basri.
In contrast to the successful Bali meeting and smooth selection of BI
governor, the nation was provided with a controversy by the East Jakarta
District Court, which handed down a suspended five-month sentence on
Monday on 22-year-old M. Rasyid Amrullah, whose reckless driving led to
the deaths of two people.

The verdict was less than the very little asked for by prosecutors, who
wanted Rasyid — the youngest son of Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta
Rajasa — to be sentenced to eight months in jail and a Rp 12 million
(US$1,23) fine.
While Rasyid cooperated during the investigation and the trial and shown
remorse of the deaths, the light verdict was unfair and has tarnished
justice in the eyes of the public. An average person without Rasyid’s
immense wealth or political connections would have faced a substantially
harsher sentence.

In another display of the state’s failure to protect the rights of all
its citizens, the nation was presented over the past week with the
imposition of bans on several Christian church congregations from
conducting divine services.

The latest incident occurred on Wednesday, when the Bekasi City
administration banned the Indonesian Christian Church in Gembrong (GKI
Gembrong) from conducting services at its church in Jatibening Baru
subdistrict for lack of a permit.
Marihot Samosir, a spokesman for GKI Gembrong, said on Wednesday that a
meeting of church representatives, the district leadership assembly
(Muspika) and the Inter-Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB) ordered the
church to halt services before the building permit could be obtained.

He said that those at the meeting allowed the congregants to conduct
their services — as long as they were able to negotiate with the mob
protesting in front of their church on Sundays, including Islam
Defenders Front (FPI) members and local residents. GKI Gembrong is the
latest target of religious intolerance in Greater Jakarta.

The previous week, the Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) in Taman Sari,
Setu district, was demolished by the local administration for lacking a
permit. Meanwhile, the HKBP Filadelfia church in Tambun, Bekasi, is
experiencing continuous resistance from residents and Islamic
organizations, despite having the required permit.* — Imanuddin Razak * * **

‘Ruko’ churches and the issue of Islamization

Khairil Azhar, Jakarta | Opinion | Fri, April 05 2013,

Not more than one 200 meters from our house, there are more than two
ruko (shop houses) that for as long as I can remember have been used as
places of worship every Sunday. During walks with my children in the
morning or while wandering alone looking for daily needs in the nearby
minimarts, we can spot our Christian neighbors going to their simple
places of worship.

Thank God, so far, the availability of these “temporary churches” has
not incited any violence. In fact, we know that in the housing complex
where the rukos are situated, there are some hard-line Islamic
organizations, which allegedly often provoke mass attacks on unofficial
non-Muslim places of worship.

Many assume that the “temporary churches” will be safe as long as they
are just as they are now.
Even some hard-liners whom I know well pay less attention to the ruko
churches than to their wish to radicalize mainstream Muslims with
focused religious services often called liqa.

However, the situation raises the question, “Will those Christians
perform their prayers that way forever as it is too difficult to just
get a building permit?”
Amid the smokescreen of legalities and political expediency, we also
should ask another question, “Will the peace we have been so far
enjoying last amid the ebb and flow of Muslim and non-Muslim relationships?”
In West Java, especially, where temporary churches might be the most
prevalent — there is no exact number — religious violence related to the
issue of places of worship and Muslim minorities (Shiites and Ahmadis)
has most frequently occurred in recent years. And sadly, we have seen no
significant efforts from the authorities to change this.
The bulldozing of a church in Setu, Bekasi, a district in West Java, on
March 22, was therefore the foreseeable result of the local authority
plumping for one side and abandoning the other instead of trying to
stand in between.

We could see clearly that the issue of legality was just a cover for
political expediency.
And the people in the administration do not understand that they are
actually raising snakes in the grass. Potential conflicts should not be
resolved through one side winning and leaving the other in misery.
Sooner or later, new forms of conflict will arise since the underlying
issues are only papered over instead of being resolved.

An Indonesianist, MC Ricklefs, based on his apprehension of what is
going on in Indonesia, dedicated his latest book Islamization and its
opponents in Java (2012), “to those who, over the centuries, have lost
their livelihoods, their homes, their friends, their loved ones, their
dignity, their dreams, their health, their freedom and their lives,
because of conflicts over what people believe.”

To avoid bias or misunderstanding, Islamization here should be
understood in the context of other cases of proselytization, such as
Christianization, Buddhistization and so on. The point is how people try
to improperly change others’ beliefs related to the way they understand
their religion or practice their religiosity.
Beside efforts to make an individual or a group of people convert, it
also includes any endeavors which make someone or a group feel
uncomfortable or threatened
to the extent of changing his or their minds and following the demands
of the propagators, either partially or thoroughly. For the propagators
themselves, it is usually done in the hope of gaining a godly reward as
well as communal praise and benefits.

Looking at the present day, therefore, if one feels uncomfortable or
threatened because of propagation or the way someone or a milieu looks
at one related to one’s beliefs, it can be said that there is a
tolerance problem.
And Ricklefs, after decades of studying Indonesia, senses the problem.
In other words, scientifically, he would like to say that Indonesia is
now facing a big challenge over the quality of religious tolerance.

Certainly, someone’s changing of a belief or the way he or she chooses
to dress is actually a privilege. Whether all citizens of a country are
Muslim or Christian is also not the point.
The point is whether someone or a group of people deprives others of
their rights or interferes with those rights. If communal peace and
harmony are really sought it is surely a must that problems be resolved
both locally and nationally.

Back to the above story, in the current political and legal uncertainty,
our Christian fellow citizens with their ruko places of worship are
actually like people submerged up to their necks. Once the water ripples
or a small wave comes, they will sink and we will see bloodshed or the
loss of lives.
The places of worship will be there as long as a police or an army car
is parked in front of them. Or, the congregations will feel secure as
long as the local police are looked after and the security racketeers
get their share. But, as long as they are still worshipping in the
rukos, the quality of their “security” will not be as good as what their
Muslim fellow neighbors enjoy. * * *